He urged them to pursue them with the Centre as things are not moving at the pace as they should, he said

BANGALORE: Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy was generous in his praise for Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, but was critical of her ministry officials for sitting on the state’s requests for transfer of defence land for infrastructure projects in Bangalore.

The CM commented about the Defence Minister’s positive attitude at a meeting with the State’s MPs which he convened to discuss the projects that are pending with the Centre. He urged them to pursue them with the Centre as things are not moving at the pace as they should, he said.

The CM later tweeted to say though the Defence Minister has responded positively to state’s projects, they have not moved forward due to the inaction of local defence officials.

Sitharaman visited Bangalore on August 4, and discussed transfer of defence land for infrastructure development projects of Bangalore in the presence of defence officials. Ten infrastructure projects have been pending for years in the city for want of parcels of defence land, and Sitharaman as well as her ministry officials had agreed at the meeting to part with the necessary land at the earliest in exchange for alternative plots of lands elsewhere for equal market value.

The Union Minister even announced that she had directed her ministry officials in Bangalore to hand over the land to the state government without much delay, without even waiting for the state’s government to release its share of land. She wanted her officials to act fast as these projects had been pending for a long time.

Though Kumaraswamy and Nirmala Sitharaman belong to rival political parties, the two share a good rapport. In August last week, when there was a war of words between Tourism Minister SR.Mahesh and Sitharaman in Kodagu, the CM personally called her, expressed his regret and requested her to forget the whole unsavoury episode.